Related papers: C. elegans in Complex Media
We use computer simulations to explore the manner in which the particle displacements on intermediate time scales in supercooled fluids correlate to their dynamic structural environment. The fluid we study, a binary mixture of hard spheres,…
Spatially-embedded complex networks, such as nervous systems, the Internet and transportation networks, generally have non-trivial topological patterns of connections combined with nearly minimal wiring costs. However the growth rules…
Microorganisms such as algae and bacteria move in a viscous environment with extremely low Reynolds ($Re$), where the viscous drag dominates the inertial forces. They have adapted to this environment by developing specialized features such…
A central problem of neuroscience involves uncovering the principles governing the organization of nervous systems which ensure robustness in brain development. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans provides us with a model organism for…
We propose a novel mechanism of cell motility, which relies on the coupling of actin polymerization at the cell membrane to geometric confinement. We consider a polymerizing viscoelastic cytoskeletal gel confined in a narrow channel, and…
Many swimming microorganisms, such as bacteria and sperm, use flexible flagella to move through viscoelastic media in their natural environments. In this paper we address the effects a viscoelastic fluid has on the motion and beating…
The roundworm C. elegans exhibits robust escape behavior in response to rapidly rising temperature. The behavior lasts for a few seconds, shows history dependence, involves both sensory and motor systems, and is too complicated to model…
Two models involving particles moving by ``hopping'' in disordered media are investigated: I) A model glass-forming liquid is investigated by molecular dynamics under (pseudo-) equilibrium conditions. ``Standard'' results such as mean…
We show how to evaluate mobility profiles, characterizing the transport of confined fluids under a perturbation, from equilibrium molecular simulations. The correlation functions derived with the Green-Kubo formalism are difficult to sample…
Molecular networks act as the backbone of cellular activities, providing an {excellent} opportunity to understand the developmental changes in an organism. While network data usually constitute only stationary network graphs, constructing…
We track particle motions in a granular material subjected to compaction using a laser scattering based imaging method where compaction is achieved through thermal cycling. Particle displacements in this jammed fluid correlate strongly with…
We report an experimental investigation of the caging motion in a uniformly heated granular fluid, for a wide range of filling fractions, $\phi$. At low $\phi$ the classic diffusive behavior of a fluid is observed. However, as $\phi$ is…
Motivated by recent experiments demonstrating that motile algae get trapped in draining foams, we study the trajectories of microorganisms confined in model foam channels (section of a Plateau border). We track single Chlamydomonas…
Confinement can be used to systematically tame turbulent dynamics occurring in active fluids. Although periodic channels are the simplest geometries to study confinement numerically, the corresponding experimental realizations require…
We numerically study the dynamics of a three-dimensional contractile fluid droplet in the bulk and under confinement. We show that varying activity leads to a variety of shapes and motile regimes whose motion is driven by an interplay…
Deep phenotyping study has become an emerging field to understand the gene function and the structure of biological networks. For the living animal C. elegans, recent advances in genome-editing tools, microfluidic devices and phenotypic…
A wide range of experimental systems including gliding, swarming and swimming bacteria, in-vitro motility assays as well as shaken granular media are commonly described as self-propelled rods. Large ensembles of those entities display a…
Abrupt changes in behavior can often be associated with changes in underlying behavioral states. When placed off food, the foraging behavior of C. elegans can be described as a change between an initial local-search behavior characterized…
We propose a unified physical framework for transport in variably saturated porous media. This approach allows fluid flow and solute migration to be treated as ensemble averages of fluid and solute particles, respectively. We consider the…
Animals employ different strategies for relating sensory input to behavioral output to navigate sensory environments, but what strategy to use, when to switch and why remain unclear. In C. elegans, navigation is composed of 'steering' and…